Printing on a surface of an article can be difficult when the surface is irregular or has dimensional variations. Some of the variation in the surface may be a product of the manufacturing process used to form the article. For example, when knitting or weaving an article, different tensions may exists at different locations of the article causing one or more dimensional variations, such as puckering or creases. Steam or other processes applied to the dimensional irregularity may be effective for limiting the surface irregularity. Therefore, it may be advantageous to process, such as apply steam, an article in at least a portion that is intended to receive printed indicia. However, transferring and separately aligning the article from a first operation, such as steaming, to a second operation, such as printing, can increase manufacturing time and costs as the article is realigned at each of the processing steps.